Dozens of open spots on S.J. panels

STOCKTON - This year more than 90 terms will expire on the dozens of boards, commissions and committees populated with appointments by the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors.

Zachary K. Johnson

STOCKTON - This year more than 90 terms will expire on the dozens of boards, commissions and committees populated with appointments by the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors.

Some of the panels direct millions of dollars in separate public agencies, but many of the 63 commissions have a narrower scope, focussing on a single issue or neighborhood. Those who sit on these panels say they can be places where somebody can volunteer in the community or be in a position to tell local government exactly what needs to be done.

Those advisory boards give community members that voice, county Clerk of the Board Mimi Duzenski said. "I think it is important to be able to reach into the community."

Every year, local government bodies are required by law to list all the boards it fills with appointments, including listing which seats have terms set to expire over the course of the year. It's to provide transparency, but it also serves as part of the county's outreach efforts to fill some of the less sought-after positions.

On top of the expiring terms to come, there are 80 vacancies on panels filled by supervisors. This year, the county plans to make changes to its website, making it more interactive and easier for people to find out which seats they are qualified to fill when looking to volunteer.

Some of the higher-profile boards at-least partially filled by county appointment are separate government agencies. These include the bodies overseeing the Port of Stockton, the San Joaquin Regional Transit District and the San Joaquin Housing Authority.

But there are also the advisory boards at the community centers where neighbors come to gather, socialize or get help through county services.

Members of the Boggs Tract Community Center Advisory Board organize events at the center in an unincorporated area of west Stockton, said Sandra Hall. She volunteered at the center before joining the board and does other volunteer work at the center and with the American Red Cross. She was reappointed to the community-center board last year.

And people who use the center are comfortable talking to community board members about what should be at the center, she said.

Other advisory boards' scopes are narrowed by issue, not geography.

At least half of the 15 members of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Board are required to either have family receiving the services they oversee or be consumers, themselves.

"You've got to be active in the community to know its needs," said Gertie Kandris of Lodi, who is an advocate for the county's mentally ill, including her son. She said county government has listened to the first-hand experience brought through the board as it treats the county's mentally ill.

Both Kandris and her husband, Tasso, have terms set to expire this year. She says she hasn't made up her mind to reapply, but her husband already has.

Mental-health issues and policy requires a lot of work to keep up to speed, she said. If she doesn't volunteer on the board, she said she'll have more time to do other work with the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Contact reporter Zachary K. Johnson at (209) 546-8258 or zjohnson@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/johnsonblog and on Twitter @zacharykjohnson.